Week That Was: Past, present, and future!

Our Week That Was series gives you a round-up of all the achievements, announcements, and other political goings-on around Parliament and across the country over the past week. We're proud of all we're doing to make New Zealand a great place to live - and we want to share it with you!

Our first week of the last month of the year, and we've been celebrating a number of major Labour milestones - with some pretty special anniversaries!

It's a good opportunity to reflect on what we've achieved, and how Labour has shaped the New Zealand we live in today. But make no mistake - we're certainly not trapped in the past! We're hard at work now, committed to safeguarding our future and making New Zealand the best it can be!

One of the major parts of our vision for New Zealand's future is for us to live up to our environmental reputation - that is, a clean, green, carbon-neutral New Zealand. This week, we took a major step towards solidifying that future, with the Green Investment Fund. We're partnering with the private sector to invest in low-emissions industries.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Climate Change Minister James Shaw gather with leaders of both the private and public sector this week to announce the Green Investment Fund

We also heard some other great news this week - the number of female chief executives in public service departments has for the first time exceeded 50 per cent.

Of the 33 public service department chief executive roles, 17 are now held by women, including acting roles – representing 52 per cent. This is up from 14, or 44 per cent, as of 30 June 2018.

It's a great achievement, and a real marker of our commitment to equality in (and out of) the workplace!

The PM also hosted a Christmas Party for a group of Barnardos New Zealand tamariki, rangatahi and their whānau. A Christmas feast, face painting, card making, board games, backyard cricket, a photo booth, and a special gift from Santa, all made this day a day to remember!

We visited Invercargill this week! It was a great opportunity to visit some local businesses with our Minister of Energy and Resources Megan Woods and Minister of Agriculture Damien O'Connor. Also, while in the deep south, the Prime Minister joined Dr. Liz Craig, our Invercargill based MP, to speak to senior students at a youth forum!

Last up, a national standard for organic production will be progressed as a Government Bill next year. What does it mean? Well, it means you can have more confidence in that '100% organic' label, for one.

The Bill will also give businesses the confidence they need to invest in the organic sector, which is growing rapidly internationally. As it stands now, we are one of only two of the top 25 organic markets in the world that have voluntary instead of mandatory standards. This Bill will help bring us in line with international markets and boost our global export potential.

That's it for this week! Tune in next week to keep up-to-date on all the latest buzz around the Beehive and everything else happening around the country.